The most common types of Home Contents Insurance claims

18 December 2018

Many homeowners across Australia made claims on their Suncorp Insurance Home Contents policy in the financial year ending June 2018, for reasons ranging from the obvious to the more unexpected. While there are a handful of claim types that are pretty common across Australia, some are more common than others, and seem to hit harder in certain states and at certain times of year.

Knowing the sort of events that are more likely to hit your house may not mean that you can avoid them entirely – things like lightning and hail are going to happen from time to time – but it can help you review your Home and Contents Insurance and ensure that your level of coverage is appropriate to your circumstances and your home’s level of risk.

Accidental damage

As you’ll see below, the most common Home Contents Insurance claim made by Suncorp Insurance customers is for accidental damage, which accounts for 46.35% - nearly half! – of our total home and contents claims.

Accidental damage cover

None of us want to deal with a scratched TV screen or cracked crystalware. Luckily, cover for accidental damage can be added to your Classic contents insurance policy, which can help you sort out a repair or replacement if something unexpected happens to your stuff. You can also add this kind of cover to your home building policy, which can help you with things like cracked ceramic tiles.

If you have a combined home and contents insurance policy, of course, you can select accidental damage cover for both home and contents.

If you have Classic cover and you bump it up to Classic Extras or Classic Advantages, accidental damage insurance is automatically included!

Christmas: The accident season

Accidents can happen year-round, but there are definitely times when we receive more accidental damage claims than usual.

Maybe it’s the mix of shiny new gadgets and overly-sugared kids, or maybe it’s that little extra bit of Christmas cheer from the end-of-year party, but claims for accidental damage spike around Christmas time. That can be especially concerning if you’re looking forward to unwrapping a big, shiny (and expensive!) 4K TV this year. Which is why it’s as good a time as any to review your coverage and make sure it suits your needs.

Claims by state

Outside of accidental damage, which is pretty frequent Australia-wide, the most common claim types vary by state.

For example, claims for the optional motor burnout cover account for 11.69% of Suncorp Insurance contents claims in Queensland, while theft claims account for 8.75%. Whereas, in South Australia, motor burnout represents only 3.14% of claims, with theft making up 15.09%. Meanwhile, a whopping 18.15% of claims in Western Australia are for theft, compared to 7.14% for motor burnout.

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